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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jan 17, 2019 16:06:57 GMT
the power of friendship and kindness to drag a down and out person out of a rut. this film conveys this sunny message without being preachy or sugary. bruce pearson (a very young and almost unrecognizable but fantastic de niro) is suffering from a terminal illness and he is having a terrible season in baseball (a game about which i know nothing). but his friend henry (the kind faced michael moriarty) is watching his back. as a star player, he renegotiates his own contract to save bruce's career, sets him up with women and rallies hostile teammates to support bruce.
the film might just be the most ambitious feel good movie. it has great dialog, shows the dark side of race relations in a baseball team and never goes out of its way to be a crowd pleaser. it is a slow burn feel good movie. i cannot think of another movie like this. it is an anomaly in the feel good movie world.
de niro is a tour de force. he owns this movie even though he plays a whiny, dependent tobacco chewing loser kind of person. what a great actor this man is. this is one of his most underrated and unknown performances. vincent gardenia is terrific as a coach/manager of the team. the film has a great memorable background score by stephen lawrence.
(9/10) - maybe i am overrating it, but this is a damn good film.
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Post by bravomailer on Jan 17, 2019 16:16:55 GMT
One of my favorite sports movies. Maybe my favorite. It begins as a parody of the athlete-dying-young genre which was popular in the seventies, especially after the success of Brian's Song. The main character, Bruce Pearson, is neither an especially good athlete nor a popular figure among teammates. By the end, the film is at least as powerful and poignant as even, say, Pride of the Yankees. Final line if the film: "From here on in, I rag nobody."
8/10
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jan 17, 2019 16:46:07 GMT
One of my favorite sports movies. Maybe my favorite. It begins as a parody of the athlete-dying-young genre which was popular in the seventies, especially after the success of Brian's Song. The main character, Bruce Pearson, is neither an especially good athlete nor a popular figure among teammates. By the end, the film is at least as powerful and poignant as even, say, Pride of the Yankees. Final line if the film: "From here on in, I rag nobody." 8/10 wow, thanks for providing context. you are as pompous as norman mailer. i dontunderstand what youre talking about. but yes, pearson was not much of an athelete. i guess this film would get murdered online in this day and age because it favored a talent-less person.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jan 17, 2019 16:55:30 GMT
Indeed, a film with so many virtues, not least of which are the wonderful performances by De Niro and Michael Moriarty, the excellent direction of John Hancock, and the terrific script (adapted by Mark Harris from his own novel). I haven't seen it in decades, but I still remember how moving it was without ever being sentimental. I also love the 1956 U.S. Steel Hour live version starring Paul Newman in the Moriarty role and Albert Salmi as Pearson. spiderwort, have you read the novel? i ma reluctant to buy it because its all about baseball. i know as much about baseball as an american would know about cricket.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jan 17, 2019 17:07:06 GMT
i dontunderstand what youre talking about. but yes, pearson was not much of an athelete. i guess this film would get murdered online in this day and age because it favored a talent-less person. Oh, but this is part of the great power of the story! I think it would be quite well-received today, because its celebration of compassion elevates the story and reminds us of what is best in humanity - a lesson that would be so welcome in the world today.
As far as the novel: sorry to say I haven't read it.
i am not so sure, spiderwort. the rightwing handles on youtube would ruin a remake. but then there is no need to remake this wonderful film. it is quite stupid of me to think how this film would have been received today. a film like this would not be made today because the worldwide audience fed on easy laughs would be unable to appreciate a film like this. this film was made when hollywood was not concerned about what the rest of the world would think about them. today, hollywood is trying to penetrate new markets like india and china.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jan 17, 2019 17:09:36 GMT
how can a person from another continent appreciate a film about baseball? will an american appreciate a film about cricket? the answer is DE NIRO. i am sort of a DE NIRO completist and i wanted to watch this film.
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,519
Likes: 9,318
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 17, 2019 17:13:08 GMT
i am not so sure, spiderwort. the rightwing handles on youtube would ruin a remake. but then there is no need to remake this wonderful film. it is quite stupid of me to think how this film would have been received today. a film like this would not be made today because the worldwide audience fed on easy laughs would be unable to appreciate a film like this. this film was made when hollywood was not concerned about what the rest of the world would think about them. today, hollywood is trying to penetrate new markets like india and china. Well, in some ways I can't disagree with you - in terms of films that get made, that is. That's the hard part. But I think that if this film could get remade, it would be well-received. At the same time, I agree with you that there's no need to remake it. It's too good. One should only remake a bad film, in my opinion. I just wish more films similar to it were able to get made today. I fear I'll be in the old folks home before that time comes around again.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jan 17, 2019 17:37:01 GMT
how can a person from another continent appreciate a film about baseball? will an american appreciate a film about cricket? It's a film about PEOPLE. Baseball is merely the setting and the excuse for them to be in a group. The film would (imo) work no matter which sport the PEOPLE were involved in. Knowing the details of a sport is not essential for enjoyment of the story.. Knowing nothing about baseball when there are so very many great films in a baseball setting …  Btw, you might be surprised to know that many non cricket fans from around the world know the basics of cricket just from seeing it in the movies.
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Post by kijii on Jan 17, 2019 18:14:17 GMT
You sold me on this. I have rented it.
I see Vincent Gardenia was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting actor too.
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Post by jeffersoncody on Jan 17, 2019 21:16:18 GMT
(9/10) - maybe i am overrating it, but this is a damn good film.
You are not overrating it, and by golly you are right, BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY is a damn good film.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jan 21, 2019 14:18:26 GMT
how can a person from another continent appreciate a film about baseball? will an american appreciate a film about cricket? It's a film about PEOPLE. Baseball is merely the setting and the excuse for them to be in a group. The film would (imo) work no matter which sport the PEOPLE were involved in. Knowing the details of a sport is not essential for enjoyment of the story.. Knowing nothing about baseball when there are so very many great films in a baseball setting … Btw, you might be surprised to know that many non cricket fans from around the world know the basics of cricket just from seeing it in the movies. good point. it is a film about people. in fact there arent that many scenes of actual baseball matches. its more about the dressing room politics and relations between players. |
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